Reparations #2
The princess looked slightly taken aback by my brusque tone. “To be honest, Captain, you’re the only person from any government who will readily talk to me without trying to take me to bed.”
“Well, I’ve got nothing to say. I’m not trying to shut you out, but my own government treats me like a mushroom, keeping me in the dark and feeding me shit.”
“Captain Boylan!” Marie took a step back, her fan frantically fluttering.
I pointed at a Commonwealth officer. “Look, there goes General, I don’t know, somebody or another. And there’s a lord, and there’s a field marshal, all higher ranked than me. Go talk to them. They might know something.”
“Indeed they might,” the smooth, soothing voice of Colonel Boleslaw said from behind me. “And so might I. Princess, how may I help you?”
I left Marie in Boleslaw’s capable hands and ordered another drink, but the colonel countermanded my order. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
“I’ve had nowhere near enough,” I said.
“Then I think it’s time you go to bed.”
I managed to refrain from smashing the crystal glass in my hand, but only just. “Damn it, Colonel, I’m not a schoolboy.”
“No, you are a sky captain in Her Majesty’s army, and I am a colonel who is telling you to go to bed.” Her voice was firm, her order unquestionable.
“I only woke up a few hours ago,” I said, but then my anger cooled, and my shoulders slumped. “Perhaps you’re right. Don’t want to make a mistake and get my heart ripped out. Not that it’d make much difference.” I bowed to Marie. “Goodnight, Princess.”
“Do you need me to call your man?” Boleslaw called after me.
I grinned sardonically. “I know the way. I’m not that drunk.” And I wasn’t. I was a little unsteady on my feet heading up the stairs, but I made it to the corridor outside the Commonwealth suites all right.
Which was why I was so surprised when everything went dark on me and the world spun.
I’d passed out drunk before, but ordinarily I woke up after and didn’t bounce about in darkness for several minutes.
Nor was there usually a blinding flash of light and a sharp prick in my neck, which abated my intoxication with horrific speed.
It wasn’t until the soundproof blackout bag was lifted from my head and the half-finished conversation in the demonic tongue reached my ears that I realized I’d been kidnapped.
“Unhand me, you blackguards!” I reached for my blades, but my arms were held fast.
“Calm yourself, Captain,” the Emperor said. “No one will harm you here.”
My head whipped around, shocked. I was seated in the Emperor’s parlor. She wore an evening gown of sky-blue silk and a placid expression. The low, lacquered tea-table before us held cups, saucers, bowls of water, and tea utensils, along with a coal burner already smoldering with embers.
“Is this going to become a habit?” I asked.
“Only when I’m uncertain that you’ll accept my invitation,” she explained. “Will you take tea with me?” the Emperor asked, her voice and face still calm. She waved her servants away, and they left, leaving me alone with the Emperor.
I wanted to say no, wanted to ask if I had a choice, but something about this intrigued my suddenly sober mind. I touched my neck. “First tell me what you put in my body.”
“An anti-intoxicant. It’s perfectly safe, I assure you.” She finally lifted her eyes to meet mine. “I wanted to be sure you were in your right mind for this.”
I gazed into her eyes, trying to read her purpose, but her expression was inscrutable.
Yet, they were her eyes, multi-faceted striations of emerald and jade, her pupils widening as they stared at me, showing, no matter how impassive she wished to seem, how much she enjoyed seeing me.
And I enjoyed seeing her. Mother Earth, had I missed looking into Astrid’s eyes these last twelve years.
Slowly, I nodded, my curiosity piqued. “I will take tea with you.”
The Emperor began to prepare the tea. I could tell it was some sort of ceremony by the way she handled the instruments before her.
She put more coals on the burner, then placed a metal kettle atop it to warm.
In bowls of clean water, she washed the spoons, scoop, whisk, and sugar tongs.
She handed me the small round tin of tea leaves, ground so fine to almost be a powder.
I wasn’t certain what to do with it, so I looked it over and gave it a sniff. It had a wonderful aroma.
When I handed the tea back to the Emperor, she took the newly cleaned scoop and served three measures into each cup before her.
She poured steaming water on top of the leaves, then stirred them with the whisk.
Finally, she added cream and a lump of sugar each.
The result was a thick, frothy mixture, fragrant and sweet.
The Emperor handed me one cup, then raised her own in both hands. I copied her, and we drank.
When the Emperor placed her cup on her saucer, she said, “Now we may speak candidly, with nothing between us.”
“All right, then, what is this? Have you changed your mind about Tilly?” I asked.
It took the Emperor a moment to compose her thoughts.
“I recognize your claim of diplomatic immunity for your hoversteed. It is a member of the Royal Commonwealth, and therefore safe from any hostile action, including memory wipes, while present at my jubilee. As for my own thoughts, well, I am considering changing my mind.”
A source of tension which had filled me all day drained away. “I’m glad to hear that. But you brought me here simply to say you won’t have Tilly killed like an animal?”
“Captain Boylan, you are unfamiliar with Imperial customs, so you will not understand the significance of what we have just done, but amongst demons, this ceremony is one of most sincere respect. I want you to know I respect you so that you might believe me when I make my apology,” Astrid said.
I rubbed my lip as I considered this. “What have you to apologize for if you still believe Tilly to be a danger?”
“My behavior was offensive, regardless of my beliefs. My belittlement of your views was intolerable. Were you and I both Imperial nobles, you would be well within your rights to demand a duel. I do not admit my beliefs are wrong, only that my expression of them was inappropriate.”
I could tell that even this tepid apology took quite a lot from her, but I was torn. I wanted to applaud her unbending from her iron stance, but I needed her to admit she was wrong about Tilly.
“I appreciate your apology,” I finally said, “but I don’t know if I can accept.
Tilly and I… We’ve been through a lot together, more than anybody I know who’s still alive.
She’s always looked out for me. It’s not her fault she’s so forceful.
She was born in a war zone. Her first lessons were under fire, and everything she’s learned afterwards, she’s learned serving as a machine of battle.
She can’t trust anyone because even the soldiers with us turned on each other when the food ran out.
I’m the only one who stayed loyal to her, so she’s always stayed loyal to me. ”
“I understand,” Astrid replied. “That’s why I’m willing to give your hoversteed a chance.
If it was anyone but you, anyone at all, I’d have that, that machine melted into slag, but…
I trust you.” She reached over and took my hand with the same clumsy motion she had used when she wanted to say something important back at the Academy.
“I trust you more than anyone in the galaxy.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing, and Astrid slowly withdrew her hand. “Besides, it’s only one AI, and my engineers have reviewed remote scans and assessed that it’s not a threat. It can’t spread through the neural net, and it can’t replicate itself.”
I reached out and retook her hand. “Thank you.”
Astrid’s voice caught in her throat, but she managed to say, “What for?”
I managed a smile. “For trusting me.”
I’m not certain who initiated the kiss, but we were up out of our chairs, pressing against one another, our mouths occupied in a far more pleasurable activity than conversation.
Astrid undid my buttons and sword belt and pulled off my dress tunic, letting them drop to the floor.
I undid the knot at the small of her back and began frantically pulling at the many sashes which made up the top of her gown, shimmying the whole thing down around her ankles.
She stepped out of the puddle of silk, and I kicked off my boots while she pulled my shirt up over my head.
I tripped, stumbling into her and sending both of us sprawling on the bed, where she pulled me to her once more.
Our diplomatic entanglement was about to get even more enthralling when, outside the polarized window, I saw a flash in the moonlight, a gleam which activated all my decade-old battle-honed instincts.
I had just enough time to glance sideways, to see the demon mounted on a black hoversteed taking aim, before I pulled Astrid off the bed and behind me.
She giggled, not having noticed the danger, but how could she know?
She’d never been ambushed by a rotary repeating lancer.